27/04/1997 (TNB)

A St Bernard's Crescent" dinner party:

• Champagne NV (A. Gratien) Reliable medium-weight fizz - pleasant as ever.
• Gewurtztraminer Kessler 89 (Schlumberger) Off-dry, big wine, drinking nicely. Pleases a certain sort of crowd a lot! 88.
• St Pierre 87 (St. Julien) I have memories of this being toasty, quite concentrated and serious. Clearly an error! Lunch-time claret, drying a little at the end. 84.
• Collheita 83 (Niepoort) Lovely golden/cherry colour, refined, nutty, not quite as concentrated as I remember. 88.

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27/04/1997 (RJB)

• Castillo de Expleleta 1990 Crianza, Rioja Goodish, clean flavoured Rioja. 84
• Barolo Riserva 1971, Giacomo Borgogno Colour brick red blending to browny amber. Some violets, chocolate and tar on the nose, but at a fairly subdued level. Palate a touch volatile and with loads of harsh tannins. The wine might improve, but most indications seem to suggest that its past it.

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Cambridge Food and Wine Society 26/04/1997 (RJB)

• Jacquart 1990 Brut (19.99 Majestics) Lovely fizz that shows the 1990 ripeness (and lowish acidity) with a touch of sweetness at the end. Creamy and well structured, but not a long term keeper. 89+
• Shadow Creek Blanc de Noirs Cuvee 393 Brut, Domaine Chandon, Napa (9.99 Majestics) Mainly the 1993 vintage, but with older wines blended in. Too sweet for perfect balance, and clumsy compared with the Jacquart. 85
• Wiltinger braune Kupp Riesling Kabinett 1994, Egon Muller (9.99 Majestics> In a slightly odd phase - nose still yothfully musty, but the fruit is maturing. Lovely lime acidity. Needs a few years to be at its best. 87?
• Soave Classico "Santepietra" 1996, Lamberti (4.49 Majestics) Clean wine with hints (but only hints) of almonds and peaches. 80
• Cotes du Rhone Blanc 1995, Guigal (6.49 Majestics) Custardy and textured, with a hot finish. Good weight. 86
• Brouilly 1996, Duboeuf (6.99 Majestics) Earthy Gamay. Good of its sort. 84
• Barbera d'Asti Superiore 1991, Bava (7.99 Majestics) Mature flavours (and colour) with balancing bitter finish. Food wine. 86
• Mas des Bressades 1994 Cabernet-Syrah, Vin de Pays du Gard (6.99 Majestics) Rich wine with good maturing Cabernet flavours and a light toastiness. The Syrah fills out the wine, without being that obvious in itself. Someone suggested that it was like an Australian wine without the mintiness and American oak. Parker gives this 90 points and I think I agree. I hope to try this again soon, but until then: 90

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85 Claret at OFW 24/04/1997 (TNB)

• Domaine de Chevalier 85 As before, refined, elegant, but really a bit light. 85.
• Lagrange 85 Brambly fruit, slightly coarse finish - lacks some 85 charm. 85.
• Talbot 85 Sweet attractive fruit, but really quite light! 84.
• Ducru Beaucaillou 85 Slightly "planky" wood on the nose (unlike the one in glasgow a few weeks ago) - typical Ducru! Class act otherwise: refined and dry finish. 88.
• Gruad-Larose 85 Full fruit: more rustic than Ducru. Good, but at the moment at least not very complex. 88.
• Leoville-Barton 85 Excellent (again). Very fine, sweet-fruited yet dry, cedary claret, edging towards maturity. 92.
• Leoville Las Cases 85 Absolutely stunning - another degree of concentration over the L-Barton, but beautifully balanced. Slightly closed at the moment, but with a stunning finish. 96.

Over all, 85 is an attractive vintage, excellent vintage. Perhaps a few wines are a touch dilute though?

• Mouton Rothschild 94 Tasted at the end of the evening. Amazingly toasty, flashily fruity nose. A lightness on the palate that may well fill out. Very "orangy" finish. 90(+).

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Gang of Three, Californian reds tasting 24/04/1997 (RJB)

Number in brackets indicates ranking in tasting decided by the average of the three scores for each wine.

• Inglenook 1985 Charbono (6) Quite nice sweet nose initially, and thin and acidic on the palate. However, after time in the glass it was clearly falling apart and maderised. 82-
• Newton Unfiltered Merlot 1993 (3) Lovely plum skin nose. Good structure with ripe tannins. Silky and long. Needs time. 91
• Sky Zinfandel 1993, Mt Veeder (2) Pinot like nose. A touch leathery and with cherry flavours. Excellent balance. Very enjoyable. 90
• Rocking Horse "Old Paint" Zinfandel 1993 (4) Fragrant, black fruits nose. Fairly good, but without the complexity of the Sky. 88
• Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir 1990 (1) Initially it smelt volatile and past it. However, as it warmed up in the glass it exhibited lovely sweet fruit. Very Burgundian in style. The longer in the glass, the better it got - I guess that the early volatility was caused by the wine being too cold. 89+
• Ridge Monte Bello 1989 Cabernet Sauvignon (5) Leafy, cardboardy Cabernet. Rather lacking charm. Not one of Ridge's better offerings on this showing. 85

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20/04/1997 (TNB)

• Champagne NV (Paillard) Replacement for bad halves noted previously. These disgorged July 96 rather than May 96. Much fresher: nice fruit in medium body. Slight "sherryish" or "spirity" flavours (which I thought was part of the fault) seem to be natural in Paillard's style, but here they add (if anything) to the effect. Overall a nice well-balanced fizz. 89.

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Dinner at E.McC's 18/04/1997 (TNB)

• Ostereicher Klosterberg Kabinett 83 (Wegler-Deinhard) good dode of near sour kabinett acidity, quite a full palate, quite spicy petrolly notes. Mature. 87.
• Sylavaner Clos de Cappucins 95 (Weinbach) Slightly estery, good fruit concentration - about as good as sylvaner can be, perhaps. 83.
• Chassagne Montrachet Caillerets 89 (J-N Gagnard) From a half, an enormous amount of custardy oak (which I had never noticed much on previous tastings). Good core of fruit though - perhaps at a slightly awkward stage. 89(++)
• Cornas 87 (Clape) Very pleasant syrah - fruit perhaps drying slightly - time to drink! 86.
• Cornas 85 (Voge) Intense raspberry flavours, nice peppery syrah. Large and slightly rustic. Seemed to get finer when open for a while. Excellent. 90.
• Hermitage 85 (Chave) Finer than the Voge, silky texture and lovely smokey fruit. Beginning to drink. Gorgeous! 92
• Schlossbockelheimer Kupfergrube Spatlese 59 (Deinhard) Lovely nutty nose, and creamy palate. Finishes just a shade short - time to drink up! 89.

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13/04/1997 (TNB)

While staying at The Cross in Kingussie:

• Coteaux de layon, Clos St Catherine 69 (Baumard) This is a really lovely old honeyed, grassy Loire. Shows what a classy wine this is -- less cloying than Moulin Touchais, etc, but richer than Vouvray. 92.
• Haut Bages Liberal 86 From a half, good, fairly weighty, coming round faster than many 86's. 88.
• Champagne, Grande Reserve (Gosset) NV Has been cellared for about six years. Gloriously full, with a lovely creamy midpalate. Brilliant food champagne. 92.

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13/04/1997 (RJB)

• Mountadam Eden Valley Chardonnay 1990 Hefty wine. Buttery, but not as overtly so as before. Ageing quite nicely. 86
• Chateau La Louviere 1986 Rather dull mature claret. Charmless. 83
• Meursault Perrieres 1985, Daniel Chouet-Clivet The first bottle I had of this (about 7 or 8 years ago) was good with a 'custard powder' feel to it. The second bottle (about 5 or 6 years ago) seemed past it - vegetal. This bottle had come round again, with hazelnut oil maturity and gentle acidity - I do like old Chardonnay. 88

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85 and 83 Claret at OFW Glasgow 07/04/1997 (TNB)

• Leoville Barton 85 Lovely classic, stylish, balanced claret. sweet 85 fruit. Delicious. 92.
• Domaine de Chevalier 85 Charming smokey nose, very elegant, but a bit dilute. Also, faded a bit in the glass. Gorgeous to drink in a way, but perhaps will fade soon. 87
• Gruad Larose 85 Plummier rounder fruit than the Barton, also a bit simpler, but lots of structure and more may emerge. 89(+)
• Ducru Beaucaillou 85 Rather dumb at the moment - but when you work at it there's a rather fine nose, and complex fruit. 91(+)
• Ducru Beaucaillou 83 Nice maturing claret, but seems a bit coarser than the bottle last month. More on the nose than on the palate, and finish a bit harsh. 87.
• Leoville Poyferre 83 Quite classy, pencilly cedar, but again this slight harshness. Either needs 10 year, or maybe it won't improve?? 90(?)
• Leoville Las Cases 83 Deep plummy very impressive nose. Again slightly less on the palate than one might hope for, and a slightly ugly finish. 89.
• Haut Brion 83 Absolutely lovely, deeply smokey, long, sweet fruit. delicious! 93.

Vintage impressions: the 85's as expected, with lovely approachable sweet fruit; the 83's I'm a bit less down on than I once was, but Haut Bron excepted, they had a slightly harsh character, and were often showing more on the nose than in the mouth. Maturing fast perhaps.

• Chianti Classico Riserva Laborel 90 (Melini) Pleasant enough, but doesn't make one suspect a great vintage!

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06/04/1997 (RJB)

• Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Premier Cru OK but unexciting fizz. 84
• Chianti Classico 1995, Cantine Leonardo da Vinci Smoked salmon nose (I often get this with Chianti and Rioja - something to do with the wood used for smoking?) and light tannins. Perfectly acceptable food wine. 85
• Rosemount Show Reserve Chardonnay 1992 As is often the way with Oz Chardonnay, a lovely first glass (when the wine was a bit too cool) and then flabbiness and monotony developing with time. 86
• Hermitage Blanc 1983, Jean-Louis Chave Disappointing again. Subdued with peach and aniseed flavours popping out occasionally, but overall the wine seems somewhat decayed and thin. Two out of three bottles have shown badly (the third is still in the cellar). Maybe these were badly stored in their youth.
• Chinon 1989 Les Gravieres d'Amador Abbe de Turpenay, Couly-Dutheil Holding together well, with a toasty/stalky and black fruits nose. Palate more clearly showing the age with acidity rather lacking. Interesting to taste an oldish Cabernet Franc - this one reminded me of an older low-level claret. 84

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05/04/1997 (TNB)

• Prieure de Meyney 85 Perfectly decent, nice ripe 85 fruit. Good to have a real red after Austria! 84.

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